Vaxiviere form continues with FR3.5 pole

Lotus Formula 1 Junior driver Matthieu Vaxiviere claimed the first pole position of the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 season at Aragon, underlining that his outstanding pre-season testing pace was representative.

The Frenchman moved ahead of Swedish rookie Gustav Malja by just 0.025 seconds, thanks to a final lap effort of 1m41.446s as the chequered flag was shown.

Fortec's Oliver Rowland secured third on the grid for Saturday afternoon's opening race.

The Racing Steps-backed Briton will line up ahead of Vaxiviere's Charouz-Lotus team-mate Meindert van Buuren, who delivered one of the most impressive qualifying performances of his career.

At the midway point of the half-hour session Jazeman Jaafar led the timing screens on his debut outing for Fortec, thanks to a time of 1m42.008s.

Although the Malaysian found four tenths on his final run, Jaafar slipped back to an eventual fifth, ahead of single-seater veteran Tom Dillmann - who is charged with leading Carlin's return to the series.

Dillmann is under investigation for breaching track limits.

Reigning FR3.5 champion and Toro Rosso Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr. was on the DAMS pitwall to support team manager Francois Sicard and his former squad at the start of the session.

The French outfit appeared mildly concerned when its Red Bull-backed driver Dean Stoneman suffered a minor trip across the grass on cold tires.

Stoneman recovered and briefly held first place, but will start from seventh on the grid for his first outing in the series.